Oye Como Va: Santana - Tito Puente - Celia Cruz

Oye Como Va

(Listen How it Goes)

Santana

"Oye Como Va" is a song written by Latin jazz and mambo musician Tito Puente in 1963 and popularized by Santana's rendition of the song in 1970.

Oye como va	English translation	Letras:
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Oye como va
Bueno pa' gozar, mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata*	Oye como va, mi ritmo
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Bueno pa goza, mulata
Bueno pa' gozar mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Oye como va, mi ritmo
		Bueno pa goza, mulata
Oye mulatita	Listen up mulatita**	Si t no sabes bailar
		Si ests peleado con el son
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Sgueme marcando el paso
Bueno pa' gozar, mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Que te aseguro que es de lo ms sabrosn
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Voy pa la rumba, la rumba, la rumba
Bueno pa' gozar mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Porque me llama, me llama, me llama
		Y necesito que suene el coro
		Para que se ponga a vacilar, y te digo

*A "Mulata" is a woman ("Mulato" being a male) of Caucasian European and Negro African descent.

**A ''Mulatita'' is a diminutive of Mulata.

Tito Puente - Oye Como Va

The Original Version

Song from Grand Theft Auto Vice City Stories (Radio Espantoso),The song from El Rey

Artist: Tito Puente

(Ernesto Antonio Puente)
Also performed by: Carlos Santana
Song: Oye como va

"Oye Como Va" is a song written by Latin jazz and mambo musician Tito Puente in 1963 and popularized by Santana's rendition of the song in 1970 on their album Abraxas, helping to catapult Santana into stardom with the song reaching #13 on the Billboard Hot 100. The song also reached #11 on the Billboard Easy Listening survey and #32 on their R&B chart.

The fact that the phrase "Oye como va" is the title of the song and is sung somewhat separately from the phrase "mi ritmo" makes it easy to interpret the meaning as "Hey, how's it going?" However, the first sentence is actually "Oye como va mi ritmo", meaning "Listen to how my rhythm goes."

The song has the classic rhythm and tempo of cha-cha-cha. It has similarities with "Chanchullo" by Israel "Cachao" López. The Latin Beat Magazine writes, "Cachao's tumbaos for his 1937 composition of Rareza de Melitón (later changed to Chanchullo) inspired Tito Puente's signature tune 'Oye Como Va'."
On the original recording of the song the voice of Santitos Colon, the Puente orchestra singer at the time, can be heard in the song along with those of Puente and other orchestra musicians. Cachao can be heard playing contrabass in some of Tito Puente's live versions of "Oye Como Va".

The song has had many arrangements and remakes by a number of artists in various tempi. NPR included the song in its "NPR 100: The most important American musical works of the 20th century".

Santana Version

Santana's arrangement is a "driving, cranked-up version" in a new style of Latin rock (attributed to musicians like Santana), adding electric guitar, Hammond B-3 organ, and a rock drum kit to the instrumentation and dropping Puente's brass section. The electric guitar part takes on Puente's flute melody, and the organ provides accompaniment (with organist Gregg Rolie's discretional use of the Leslie effect). 

There are several guitar solos and an organ solo, all of which are rooted in rock and the blues but also contain licks similar to those of the original arrangement.

The song was inducted into the Latin Grammy Hall of Fame in 2001.

Tito Puente, speaking in the intro to his recording of "Oye Como Va" on the album "Mambo Birdland," said "Everybody's heard of Santana. Santana! Beautiful Santana! He put our music, Latin rock, around the world, man! And I'd like to thank him publicly 'cause he recorded a tune and he gave me credit as the composer of the tune. So, since that day... all we play... is Santana music!" 

The version of the song on "Mambo Birdland" is a Santana-ized version.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oye_Como_Va

 

^{Celia Cruz
Oye Como Va}

Úrsula Hilaria Celia de la Caridad Cruz Alfonso, also known by her stage name Celia Cruz (October 21, 1925 – July 16, 2003), was a Cuban singer of Latin music. 

The most popular Latin artist of the 20th century, she earned twenty-three gold albums and was a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. She was renowned internationally as the "Queen of Salsa", "La Guarachera de Cuba", as well as The Queen of Latin Music.

 

^{Azúcar Moreno
Oye como va guajira}

«Oye Como Va» es un mambo compuesto por Tito Puente en 1963 y popularizado por Carlos Santana en 1970. También lo incluyeron en su repertorio Celia Cruz, Julio Iglesias, Kinky, Cheo Feliciano, Azúcar Moreno y José Feliciano.

 

Oye como va	English translation	Letras:
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Oye como va
Bueno pa' gozar, mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata*	Oye como va, mi ritmo
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Bueno pa goza, mulata
Bueno pa' gozar mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Oye como va, mi ritmo
		Bueno pa goza, mulata
Oye mulatita	Listen up mulatita**	Si t no sabes bailar
		Si ests peleado con el son
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Sgueme marcando el paso
Bueno pa' gozar, mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Que te aseguro que es de lo ms sabrosn
Oye como va mi ritmo	Listen how it goes, my rhythm	Voy pa la rumba, la rumba, la rumba
Bueno pa' gozar mulata	It's good for having fun, mulata	Porque me llama, me llama, me llama
		Y necesito que suene el coro
		Para que se ponga a vacilar, y te digo